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Programmers win settlement against Electronic Arts

A class action lawsuit by overworked programmers against video game maker EA …

The saga of ea_spouse rocked the Internet when it was published in November 2004. The sad tale of unnecessary and seemingly endless "crunch times" combined with a veritable mountain of unpaid overtime had many people shaking their heads in disbelief, although to former EA employees like myself the only reaction was "what took so long for this story to come out?"

Now it seems that the story has a happy ending. Electronic Arts has reached a settlement with its programmers to the tune of US$14.9 million. The money will go to programmers at various levels who worked at Electronic Arts between February 14, 2001 and February 14, 2006. Money from the settlement that is unclaimed will go to the Ronald McDonald House Charities and to a fund that will establish scholarships at five selected universities for female and underrepresented minority students interested in pursuing a career in video games.

In addition, EA has reclassified about 440 employees, including 200 entry-level artists, from being on salary to hourly workers so that they can claim overtime. Major deadlines have also been moved to Fridays instead of Mondays in order to encourage a normal five-day working week. Industry observers are hoping that this represents a shift from the old-school mantras of "working until you drop" towards more sane and family-friendly employment practices.

The shift is due to more than just the lawsuit, although undoubtedly that has had an impact on EA's practices. However, even back in 2000 when I worked there as a lowly tester, there were signs that things were changing. Some of my coworkers remembered (not so fondly) the old days when they would stay up for a full 24 hours straight prior to shipping a new title. When I was there, that had already transitioned to 12 hour shifts with two teams, although overlap made those shifts a little longer. As the average age of gaming industry employees increases, it becomes harder and harder to find people willing to work those kinds of hours.

And ea_spouse? Now that the lawsuit is settled, her identity has finally been revealed. She is Erin Hoffman, the then-fiancée of Electronic Arts programmer Leander Hasty, one of the specifically named plaintiffs in the lawsuits against EA. The couple has since married, and now work together in Troy, NY as designer and programmer respectively at the independent game developer 1st Playable Productions. They are working on a new web site, Gamewatch.org, which is designed to help foster discussion about working conditions in the gaming industry.